Of great concern to many of us interested and actively pursuing holistic medicine is a question of charging for our services. Unlike many other professions, many of us are in this for our health, and enjoy spreading our knowledge of healing modalities to others.
A recent post from a mailing list I belong to summarizes this struggle quite nicely:
If you want to build the business end into herbal stewardship, then create beautiful scents, pressed herb pictures, illustrated herb needlework, tooled herb images on leather, notecards, soaps, scents and bath products, growing and gardening guides, jigsaw puzzles and games, household hints and articles etc.Let medicine and healing be in the realm of teaching, separate from money, separate from business. The health of the planet is at risk, and is declining due to the "businesses" of medicine, agriculture, and corporate greed. Somewhere there needs to be a standard of tradition where healing and medicine is a part of every household and community wisdom, not a store or building where products and services are "sold" to "consumers".
Thank you, Aliceann, for putting it so succinctly. May the light shine softly on your path...
Okay, I enjoy your site, but I just lost a lot of respect for you.
I feel there is something not quite right about having to work for crap wages at a crap job and then practicing/learning my alternative healing art for free in my spare time.
I am quitting my clerical job that pays $8.00 an hour and launching a Reiki practice, $30.00 a session. If I have enough paying clients, then I can afford to do some "pro bono" work or barter work AND -- wow, get this -- make a living doing something I love and am good at as opposed to boring work in front of a computer monitor in a fluorescently-lit office that saps both my energy and my soul.
Your post and the supporting comments once again create an artificial dichotomy between "money" and "spirituality." I believe that dichotomy is an illusion. I want to go on record as saying that I am also a Priestess and minister of a Wiccan church, and I do a lot of counseling and healing work that is not compensated monetarily.
Posted by: Anna Helvie on July 30, 2003 10:37 PMAnna,
Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I sense a lot of pent up frustration in your comment and hope you have an outlet for release.
For what it's worth, I think it's very important to love what it is you do as your "job". So many people do not have that option, or do not make the necessary adjustments to have it that way.
And to clarify: I think it is possible to make a living wage in holistic medicine. I know many people that have done just that. But anyone getting into this business just so they can make money is to me in it for the wrong reasons.
Namaste,
Evo
Posted by: Evo Terra on August 1, 2003 04:03 PMYes, I certainly agree with that statement - whether it is holistic medicine or not; I knew many pre-med undergraduates who were explicitly going into medicine because of the money, and
while they were quite bright and (I'm sure) have made technically competent M.D.s, I would not want to be one of their patients.
If I misunderstood your comment, I apologize. What I perceived was a condemnation of all money exchanges for healing services, with the example being herbalism.
As far as the frustration - there is a certain amount, living as I do in small Southern town, challenging ideas that Reiki is the
name of Japanese demon or something else "weird" and "strange." Or worse, challenging the idea that most people have that they
don't deserve an hour of healing energy and
attention focused on themselves, paid or not.
Thank you for responding to my comment.
P.S. As far as the herbals, as I come to know the Plant Spirits better, it becomes harder and harder to view our green allies as commodities only. I have done some wildcrafting this year; seeing how much material needs to be gathered for a pint mason jar of tincture makes me think hard about the plants that go into mass-marketed herbal products. But that's a whole 'nother discussion.
This is a great conversation thread. I think it is very, very difficult to strike a balance between "what works" and "what matters." The "what works" people are in it only for the money, as Evo mentioned. The "what matters" people feel that they shouldn't have to be bothered by money issues and can operate above the fray, but often end up starving and not serving as many people as they could.
The Aliceann post seems to lean towards a "what matters" approach.
The balance between the two is critical. Doing what you love, making great money, operating a business conscientiously, and reaching as many people as possible is all good. It's my intent to make this possible for as many holistic health practitioners as physically possible!